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Welcome to our Big News section for all the latest news concerning Military Disability.

We'll do our best to keep you up to date on everything that could affect your disability. Since the majority of our news will cover legal issues that can be dragged out for a long time, if you'd like an update on an issue, let us know, and we'll do what we can.

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Wednesday, October 5, 2016

The VA announced last month that veterans who receive care
at VA medical centers will now be able to schedule routine appointments at
local optometry and audiology clinics without a referral from their Primary
Care Manager (PCM).

Until now, veterans who needed routine eye or ear care would
have to make an appointment with their PCM, get a referral for a consult visit,
and then wait for clinic personnel to contact them to schedule the consult
appointment. This process often resulted in a wait of several weeks before the
veteran actually got to see an optometrist or audiologist.

The Audiology and Optometry Direct Scheduling Initiative,
which started as a pilot program in 2015 at 3 VA sites, is now being expanded
to all VA medical centers. The Initiative is expected to be fully implemented
at all VA medical centers by the end of 2016. It should not only drastically
reduce veterans’ wait times for routine ear and eye appointments, but it is
anticipated that it will also free up primary care physicians’ schedules,
making it easier and quicker for veterans to get appointments with their PCM.

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About Me

As a retired Air Force Colonel and physician, I am a Military Disability and VA Disability specialist. As a physician, I have specialties in preventive medicine, occupational medicine, and healthcare administration. While on active duty, I had direct responsibility over preventive medicine for all military members in deployed environments and contingency operations. Since retiring, I have worked as a contractor for the Physical Disability Board of Review (PDBR), reviewing military disability cases, and for the VA, performing C&P exams.